People Powered Politics
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Back to regular posting on Thursday. And while that could be about Ned Lamont, it’s more personal this time with Jeff Smith winning with big margins in the 4th District State Senate Race in St. Louis last night. Jeff was an original Dean Dozen candidate in 2004. We took nearly 72% of the vote in my old ward.
?This shows what blind loyalty to George Bush and being his love child means,? said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the leader of the Democratic House Congressional campaign. ?This is not about the war. It?s blind loyalty to Bush.?
Standing against a war that is hugely unpopular and horribly mismanaged to the point that one has to wonder if anything can be salvaged from it is hardly radical. Republicans can delude themselves that this is some sort of radical outcome, but with recent polling it seems that 60% of the population, not just Democrats agree with Ned Lamont. They can then try and tell everyone how Chafee probably losing to Laffey is really quite different….
Durbin and Obama are backing Lamont.
I’ve been on the losing end of many primaries and you know what you do, barring the person being a criminal or sorts, you back the winner. However, insurgent candidates cannot just be people professing the right things, they have to put together a decent operation and have access to money. Lamont had that as did Jeff.
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August 9th, 2006 at
In Illinois, Blagojevich is reinventing the old axiom, when it comes to Green candidate Rich Whitney. First he fought him (by trying to have him kicked off the ballot), now he’s ignoring Whitney (by refusing to debate him).
August 10th, 2006 at
Run, Ned, Run!! I hope like hell he becomes the face of the Democratic party for the ‘06 elections. Unfortunately for me, I’m not so sure that the results of a primary election where less than 20 % of the electorate actually votes indicates much of a trend at the national level. For that matter, Ned is still not out of the woods in CT — the smart money is on Al Gore’s running mate (how soon we forget) by at least 3 points. But I can dream.
August 11th, 2006 at
MV,
Rich Whitney hasn’t raised enough money to send a mailer to all registered members of his own party.
Everyone’s ignoring him.
August 12th, 2006 at
Lamont is independently wealthy, and only some candidates are insurgent candidates. Some insurgent candidates lose. Christine Cegelis lost, and she was the anti-war candidate.
August 13th, 2006 at
APundit,
Great aside with the Jeff/Ned Lamont reference. Same beast. Ol’ Joe better be sure in the general, but really have enough old chits to call in to save him.
August 14th, 2006 at
Have you seen the McQuery column where Speaker Madigan calls Senator Obama “The Messiah?” Why would Madigan wantto pick a fight with Obama? While the guy is as godlike as any member of the U.S. Senate, why would Madigan want to be so condescending?
Is he still upset that Barack’s candidate smoked Madigan’s Treasurer candidate in the primary? Is this why Madigan is treating Obama like a junior member of the Illinois House?
August 16th, 2006 at
Obama, as a former U of C law professor, rose to fame from outside of the Machine, therefore it cannot control him. In some respects, he’s worse than a Republican, as everyone knows Illinois Republicans are just Illinois Democrats with nicer suits.
Madigan’s turf is threatened if too many “outsiders” gain control in Democratic circles.
August 16th, 2006 at
Obama rose to power from outside the machine, therefore it cannot control him. Madigan loses power if too many “outsiders” gain control in Democratic circles. In some respects, he’s worse than a Republican since Illinois Republicans are just Illinois Democrats with nicer suits.